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The Dark Side of Fire: cinnamon, bitter almond, and neroli. Heavily spiced, torrid, and possibly conflagrant.

I got this as a frimp from the lovely Kamyra after I mentioned that Chimera was too sweet and sickening on me and that I was still searching for the perfect cinnamon BPAL. I totally missed this scent in the catalog.

In the bottle: Cinnamon & almond

On my skin: On application the Almond is definitely the topnote though the cinnamon keeps clawing its way up to the surface. Its like a war between cinnamon and almond that is being waged on my arm at the moment. With each sniff I smell each one of them stronger than the other. There is a powdery sort of note in the background that is almost floral (the neroli) that keeps peeking out of the battle. As this scent dries down the neroli comes to the front and finishes with a soapy almond spice note.. this drydown stays with me for a good part of the day. Its a very long wearing scent.. love it!

verdict: definitely a 5ml in the future.

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Inferno is the only Dark Elements blend I haven’t tried yet, mainly because of the almonds. I know in advance that I won’t like Inferno because of the dreaded almonds of doom and the neroli, but in the interests of reviewing I’m going to at least sniff it.

My impressions:

Cinnamony almonds. If I weren’t allergic to almond oil, I could see why someone might like this. It reminds me of those cinnamon frosted almonds and pecans they sell from those little carts on street corners and at Six Flags. Makes me sick, but I can see the appeal to someone else.

The bottom line:

Attractive in its own gourmand way, but I just can’t wear it and probably wouldn’t anyway even if I could because I’m not a foody scent kind of girl.

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After reading all the reviews, I wimped out and only tested this on the backs of my hands. Feelin' hot hot hot. My skin didn't react with redness or welts, but it definitely felt warm.

I got pure cinnamon out of it, I never detected the other notes. I personally love that spice, but I like it softened for use as perfume. This actually did smell a bit too much like red hots candy; I think I prefer Hamadryad as a cinnamon-y personal fragrance.

It is a wonderful room scent, though, I'll definitely use up the imp that way, and I may end up getting a small bottle for days when I want to warm up the house.

Edit: This turned out to be vey nice and wearable for me layered with vanilla. It stayed hot, but the vanilla took the 'red hots' edge off. I could also detect the almond and neroli, which I didn't get any whiff of in straight Inferno.

Edited October 15, 2005 by LyndaM

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Inferno was included as a free imp from my Harvest Moon order. I've liked other cinnamon scents (Mars, Wrath) but didn't love them. I don't love Inferno, either, but for different reasons. This turns into a cologne-y scent on me, very masculine. It gives me a slight headache. But it is pretty and the almonds, neroli and orange blend quite well together on me. (I wonder if my dad would like it?) This, to me, is what I thought the "Bay Rum" aspect of Baron Samedi would smell like -- add cloves to this and it would be a perfect bay rum.

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To all those who said this smelled like/reminded them of Red Hots, I agree. Inferno is a very strong, saucy, slightly bitter cinnamon scent. I like it all right, just not as a perfume...especially since it's the first BPAL I've tried that irritates my skin.

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On my skin: Almonds, and something sweet...This is so good! It reminds me a tiny bit of Chimera... Now the orange is coming out a little I think. And a tiny bit of Cinnimon. It's soaking into my skin fairly quickly.

Dry: Now I smell like Dentyne Gum. O_o; I don't think I'll be keeping this.. I'm still undecided though.

I've decided I'm sending this as a freebie imp to someone, since that's what I got it as. ^^

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In the imp: almond! That's all I smell now…I'm hoping that I don't get the 'Inferno Burno' reaction that others get from the cinnamon!

Wet on skin: smells like those Italian almond cakes, this is delicious. It's beginning to tingle on my skin…hope it doesn't do more than tingle!

Dry on skin: the almond will fade, I know-it's like a veil that lifts to uncover the scents underneath. And as it slowly lifts, the cinnamon comes out. So for a while it smells like Christmas cake with marzipan…and then the cinnamon becomes warmer, and hotter, and more fiery and then the scent becomes almost pure cinnamon! But the miracle is that I don't get any welts from this-maybe a slight stinging, but nothing too painful! I must have skin as tough as a rhino's!

After a while: oh yeah, I like this. Smells like Christmas cinnamon with, funnily enough, orange! Must be the neroli. The almond seems to stick around but not as strongly as before. So warm and festive, this is great for winter!

Verdict: this starts off with a huge dose of almond which fades away to reveal a warm core of cinnamon with a hint of something orangey. This is a wonderful winter scent, quite festive, very spicy, an almost fiery cinnamon which is warm and cosy to sniff. The great thing is that I don't get a huge burning reaction from the cinnamon like many do-wow, I must have some damn tough skin! No Inferno Burno for me! I'm not sure if I'll get a bottle as there are many other cinnamon scents I prefer, but I will keep the imp of this.

Edited November 13, 2005 by yeahbutnobut

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Red Hots, Red Hots, Red Hots! (Which is not a bad thing at all, believe you me!) Although it smells like almond in the bottle, wet, it smells like Red Hots. Dry, it smells like Red Hots. A while later, it smells like Red Hots. The perfect thing to warm me up as we finally start getting some good snow.

Perfect timing, too. I'd been going through a pile of 13 imps that came in my latest order, and nothing screamed "Buy me!" I was a bit worried something was wrong with my sniffer!

But this one I have to have.

And I'm not at all sure that the rashes have anything to do with sensitive skin, per se. I raise welts if I lightly scratch myself, if I'm handling blackberry vines, even if I'm wearing longs sleeves, when I touch my parents' fake Christmas tree, and if I use a different laundry detergent.

But not with Inferno!

*edited to add* A while later, I did get some minor itching, but nothing strong enough to prevent me from wearing it!

Edited November 30, 2005 by trowely

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In the bottle, this was sweeter than I was expecting. Cinnamon candies and almond. Wet on my skin the cinnamon overwhelms anything else, and I smell like Red Hots. Not in a bad way, either. As it drys, the scent gets a little more complex, less like candies and more like cinnamon bark.

I didn't have any problems using this on my wrists, but on my neck it burned so much I had to wash it off. Too bad.

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Dry: The almond fades and the cinnamon gets stronger. The two are very well balanced, and I love them a lot. Unfortunately, on me the neroli is way too flowery. It would be great in some other blends, but I don't like this combination of spicy/nutty with sweet flowery. In contrast, I love Three Withces, which is similar but all about spice.

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Almonds and cinnamon, pure and simple. But when it comes to my chemistry...wait for it...OH HEY! What do you know! Plastic! Almonds always do this on me, they turn to stinky plastic on my skin. Oh well. This was a freebie from the lab and I do love it immensely in the vial, but on me it just goes the way of all almonds on my skin.

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In the bottle: Almonds galore! Not sharp or bitter, but a strong, sweet almond that was so good I couldn't put the imp back down for a good five minutes.

Wet: Since this was a frimp and not one I would have thought to test out myself, I was a little wary about. I just barely dabbed it on my wrist, which turned out to be a wise choice. The almond immediately disappeared and was completely overwhelmed by the cinnamon. It didn't burn my skin, but it smelled like it was. Like I had some of those Red-Hot candies into my arm.

Drydown: The almond didn't return, and the cinnamon was still hot and overwhelming. I was tempted to wash it off, but decided to wear it out. After about three hours the cinnamon finally tempered itself to the point of being tolerated and I could get the occasional whiff of neroli. It lasted for several hours, and I could still catch the hint of cinnamon in the morning.

Final note: I'd like to give this another try, perhaps using it in a spray or with lotion to tone it down a little. I would probably recommend it to anyone who loves cinnamon, since I'm sure that it was my own chemistry that made that note in particular go crazy.

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Straight up, strong cinnamon. Like the smell of Red Hot candies. When I first applied it, I smelled a sweeter, quite promising base that I was hoping would balance out the strength of the cinnamon, but no such luck. My skin turned it into a cinnamon fest. Much too strong for me, I need my cinnamon spoon fed to me and drenched in sweetness, like Chimera. Definitely a fitting scent for Inferno though, quite firey. I'll find my impie a more appreciative home.

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The imp smells like almonds, to me. Spicy almonds, but still almonds. Yup, almonds.

It didn't burn my skin, it was just nicely warm, but the cinnamon and neroli never revealed themselves enough to balance out the freaking almonds. And on my skin, this blend turned the almonds into something unpleasant. Thankfully, no allergic reaction, as I'm allergic to eating the real thing.

So... definitely not for me. But could be pretty with different chemistry.

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Having read the reviews here before I tried it, I just put a little on the back of my hand to start. It felt a little warm for a bit, but nothing too bad. I later put it on my wrists and didn't even feel that much, so I guess it really depends on the person.

As others have said, wet this spells almost completely of almond. It made me a little wary at first, because I have no great love for that scent.

As it dries, though, it becomes mostly cinnamon. I don't get candy-sweet (Red Hots) cinnamon exactly, though - I guess there's enough of the almond and neroli in there still to make it interesting.

I love cinnamon, so this one gets my approval. I kept smelling my wrist and going, "mmm, cinnamony."

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In the bottle: Woah. Yum. This one is really strong, but I didn't get any burning sensations, it's just really, really bam! just there. I can deffinatley smell the cinnamon and almond, though to me the almond is the strongest. It reminds me of this yummy almond and custard scroll thing I like getting from the bakery.

Wet: The cinnamon is coming through the most. But while typing this I get little wiffs of almond. It's not burning my skin, but the area does feel warmer.

Dry: It mostly just smells of cinnamon on me, and a little something else, which I assume is the neroli.

Overall, I quite like the smell, but I don't know if I I'm a really cinnamon-smelling kind of person.